Greetings, all. It’s been a few weeks since I have posted, so it’s time for an update. I am making slow but steady progress on book two of The First Proving trilogy, Knights and Watchers, and am up to about 60k words or so. Technically that should mean I am at the half-way point, but I have to say that it doesn’t really feel like I am that far along in the course of the story. But I have decided to not let the pre-existing limit (based on the length of Emergence) hamper my writing. Instead, I will just work as hard as I can to get the story down then see what the final product looks like in terms of words. I feel like Knights and Watchers is going to be very back-heavy in terms of action; the beginning has a lot of discussion and planning between various characters, mingled with a few pretty heavy action scenes (my favorite of which happens not long after all eight main characters meet and greet for the first time). But within three or four chapters of where I am now, there will be an extended set of action-filled chapters as the group sets out on Venture – and of course things go terribly wrong. After that, not much story time passes before The Proving itself begins, so I think  that a book with a ton of action in its final half is unavoidable.

Regarding my ongoing efforts to find an agent/editor/publisher, I continue to send out query letters and submissions and hope for a positive response. I have received requests for additional material from about 6 agents and 2 publishers, all of which I responded to immediately (of course). The funny thing is, I find myself getting excited about/interested in a given agent at a given literary agency when I really have no idea if or when any of them will give me the time of day. So I am trying to simply press on, continuing to write, continuing to send out queries, hoping that something excellent happens at some point along the way.

Which brings me to the question of “why”, which I believe is the most important question in any time-consuming, attention-sucking pursuit like writing. Why am I doing this? Why am I taking the time? What are my goals, hopes, dreams, for all of these words I am weaving into the blank canvas that is Microsoft Word? For if I have the right answers to those questions, then I will have no problem with delays, with setbacks, or with the ever-present possibility that no one may ever read or like these books.

If nothing EVER comes of this project, did I simply waste my time?

The answer is no. Definitely not. I am not writing these books to be published and monetarily successful. I am not writing them to be mass produced and marketed from coast to coast. I am not writing them to become a Twitter-star and hold book signings. I am not even writing them to get a few people to tell me that they liked the 20+ books that I have outlined as The Tome of Greystone.

No, I am writing them because I absolutely LOVE this story. I love it. In a way that is hard to even explain, really, but if you have ever created something that you really, really love – be it art, or music, or a plan, or a home, or a meal – then you know of what I speak. I love this story, and so I want to capture it. And share it. I am convinced that this story should be told, needs to be told, and that I alone can tell it.

Therefore, once I have written the entire story, I will feel joy. Regardless of my status (or lack thereof) as a writer, regardless of actual literary success, I am so excited at the prospect of writing this book series that I can hardly stand it! It’s just a good story. So I am gonna tell it.

So that’s my “why”.

Thanks for reading!

~Kevin